if we finish 5th this season will we have underachieved ?

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wearethesouthstand

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top six was the target - later moved to 70 points...

we are going to qualify for europe in a proper way for the first time since the late 70s (last two times in europe were fair play league)

record number of points total for the premiership

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however if we do not make the champions league will we have failed this season ?

should we have won one of the cups ? (ie playing boyata instead of onohua at old trafford in the second leg)

as far as i am concerned now, if we don't get fourth i will be absolutely sick
 
Finishing 5th will be a major disappointment however it will still represent excellent progress.

With a manager getting the backing of the owner in the summer I have no doubts whatsoever that we will challenge for the Prem next season.
 
At the beginning of December top 5 would have been a great achievement but the fact 4th spot opened up anything less than 4th is failure in my book as it sets us back another season
 
Barring one week or so this seasonwhen we were in 8th we have beenin the Top 6 ALL season, that for me is definite progress on a consistency level.

Of course would be gutted if we didnt make 4th spot (which we WILL still do), but when all the fuss dies down 5th would be a springboard to next season and to push on from there.
 
Would have been "very happy" at the beginning of the season with 5th!

The way the season has panned out I would be totally gutted not to get 4th!!!
 
Not in the slightest. A little disappointing considering how some games have panned out, but a best ever finish? We will constantly rue the dropped points if we don't look ahead and move on, but we should learn the lesson that it's not only money that secures CL status. Had we had the same first half of the season as we have had for the second, then we would have made it but that's life and nothing bites yer arse worse than footy! Roll on next season!
 
I'm a Utd fan but I think 5th for City this year would confirm the progress your team has made.

Obviously 4th would be a massive (excuse the pun :)) achievement for you but to be completely honest I dont really think it says anything negative if you miss out on 4th this year (although it would obviously be a disappointment). 10th to 5th in good progress.

From Cities perspective I dont think a year in the Europa league would necessarily be a bad thing, it doesn't quite bring the same level of pressure as the CL while at the same time giving your squad the opportunity to gain some experience in Europe.

The flip side of that is to get 4th this season, immediately have the pressure of the CL.

A lot of the City lads I speak to seem to be a bit impatient when it comes to wanting to get into the CL, & compete with the league etc, which are obviously coming, but I just dont think it will do you any harm in the longer term if it takes another year of slower, more natural and sustainable, growth, on the back of the growth you've already achieved.

I'd say there may be a chance that qualification and a prolonged campaign in the CL next year could have a negative impact in terms of the league, which for me would be the No.1 priority if I was one of you?

Any thoughts?
 
Back in August or even December 5th would have probably been accepted and taken there and then.

But since we've had a taste of being in 4th and and shown that we are more than capable of finishing 4th, it will be a big disappointment and an anti-climax to finish 5th.

There's nothing wrong in feeling that way either. It just shows how far we have come.

However, I do think there is a window of opportunity for us if we do finish 4th. We steal a march on Liverpool whilst they're trying to get their house in order. United have their own problems and Arsenal will have to spend a lot of money in the Summer.

It is in none of these club's interest for us to finish in the top 4 (even Chelsea). A point is not enough at Arsenal because I have a sneaky feeling Spurs will get something at Old Trafford. Nothing surprises me anymore.

At the moment it is still just about in our hands. Win the last 4 games and 4th is ours.

There's one thing I love about football - it's such a simple game.
 
Finishing 5th at the beginning of the season would have been fantastic given how top 6 was the objective.

We have kind of dug our own grave with the top 4 thing. I know we can finish 4th, I know we can.

But we have to show it now or we will be made to lie in that grave.
 
Buzzers said:
I'm a Utd fan but I think 5th for City this year would confirm the progress your team has made.

Obviously 4th would be a massive (excuse the pun :)) achievement for you but to be completely honest I dont really think it says anything negative if you miss out on 4th this year (although it would obviously be a disappointment). 10th to 5th in good progress.

From Cities perspective I dont think a year in the Europa league would necessarily be a bad thing, it doesn't quite bring the same level of pressure as the CL while at the same time giving your squad the opportunity to gain some experience in Europe.

The flip side of that is to get 4th this season, immediately have the pressure of the CL.

A lot of the City lads I speak to seem to be a bit impatient when it comes to wanting to get into the CL, & compete with the league etc, which are obviously coming, but I just dont think it will do you any harm in the longer term if it takes another year of slower, more natural and sustainable, growth, on the back of the growth you've already achieved.

I'd say there may be a chance that qualification and a prolonged campaign in the CL next year could have a negative impact in terms of the league, which for me would be the No.1 priority if I was one of you?

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

ok mate, well done for "outing" yourself as a red...

it was 4th or a cup win for me this year, and i've been going since 85, so i know people say, give it another year and this and that but we need CL and we need to bring in the top players, we wouldnt win CL obviously but to get throught he qualifiers and have 6 decent games and put our name on the map would be great, even if we went out of CL before xmas think it would be good.
also CL now means we get the players NOW to keep us in top 4 immediately, we have a chance to overtake the bindippers now, if they get a takeover and new finance might be hard as ever to make top 4 in the future...
 
Good point Buzzer and nice to hear a reasoned post from a manu fan!

Thing is the Europa League would just be as onerous on us as the Champions League, see last season.

This year we have a great cahnce to qualify for Champions League and attract better quality players and even if we went out in the qualifying round we would still be in the Europa league!
 
Certainly old enough to not be labelled a spoilt brat.

It won't be a case of underachieved, more outright failure.

We can put whatever gloss you care to put on things.

But the fact is, this present Premier League set-up is the weakest it has been in years.

We failed to take advantage, based on our outlay and the nucleus of supposedly decent talent we has last season.

Liverpool have been woeful, Everton took an age to get up to speed, yet we lack the current conviction and mindset to push us on.
 
Yeah I see where you're coming from but I dont think you're going to have a problem attracting players this summer, CL or not. Not sure I'd be in fear of having to compete with Liverpool next year either, I think in the next couple of years its going to go from a 'big 4' to more like a big 5 or 6 so we're all going to have to compete with someone (which should hopefully lead to some great seasons)...

I think most city supporters would've taken 5th at the start of the season, I'd take being in with a shot at 4th as a bonus this year if I were you. Obviously it'll be disappointing if you miss out on it but in the greater scheme of things I dont think it says anything about the team, particularly in a year where you're bedding in a number of new players and changed manager. To suggest its underachievement is being very harsh if you ask me.
 
Again good point Buzzer!

With the season we have had, injuries, the Hughes sacking saga, Bridge affair, Tevez baby problems Adebayour banned and terroist attack etc think we have done well to be where we are :)
 
Before the season I said fifth would be tremendous. But the way things have panned out I would definitely say that we'll have under-achieved if we don't finish in the top four.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Certainly old enough to not be labelled a spoilt brat.

It won't be a case of underachieved, more outright failure.

We can put whatever gloss you care to put on things.

But the fact is, this present Premier League set-up is the weakest it has been in years.

We failed to take advantage, based on our outlay and the nucleus of supposedly decent talent we has last season.

Liverpool have been woeful, Everton took an age to get up to speed, yet we lack the current conviction and mindset to push us on.
Click to expand...

The team that lost against United had only one player, Nedum, who had been at the club more than 14 months. Throw in a manager of three months and you get the picture. This side would be far better next year without any additions. Throw in a couple of well chosen buys and well who knows.
 
I don't think we will have under-achieved with 5th but will still be a little disappointed. As mentioned 10th to 5th is good progress and people seem to forget how many new players we brought in.

Teams like the Arse, Scum, Chelsea for the last few years have been bringing in 1 or 2 players a year and fitting them into an already established team - we've made wholesale changes to our entire first team virtually every 6 months for the last 18 months. In addition we have had terrible luck with injuries and suspensions so even our 1st team picks have hardly played together (or trained together) for more than 6 games at a time.

Whatever people say players need time to gel and get on the same wavelength. Even silly stuff like knowing whether Tevez is likely to go left or right given a decision to make (for one example) makes all the difference and could have got us an extra few points this season.

We now look to be getting there with players having learnt each others habits and reactions and I don't think there will be more wholesale changes, maybe 3-4 players to replace the obvious departures like Benjani, Petrov but bring in top class players who will be competing for 1st team places thereby raising the standard of the squad as a whole.

Bit long winded but basically I'd still be reasonably happy with a 5th place spot.

(I put this in another thread but it fits this one too) The last 7 years we have been behind the scum as follows at the end of the season - 40, 32, 47, 40, 25, 34, 32 points - average of 35.7 points (higher average if you go by top of the table each season).

This season (depending on results) we are looking at being 14 points behind.
 
It would be disappointing BUT, we are getting there. Champions League maybe too big of a step for us this year.

A few more players join in the summer (not a major overhaul!) to strengthen all areas. (Around 4 /5 players) & we are in with a very good chance next season.

The points that we dropped with all the draws earlier in the season are haunting us now. We should be at least 5 point more.

I am still not writing off this season yet.
 
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